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I’m sure I’m starting to sound like a broken record but Lillstreet Arts Center is such a great place to take a call and try your hand at ceramics, painting, printmaking or metalsmithing.  Classes aren’t only fun but an inspiration to releasing some of that creative energy. Take a class over the holidays or give a class as a gift to friends and loved ones.

The winter season not only ushers in a new semester at Lillstreet, but their 34th Annual Holiday Show as well.  Between November 16th and December 31st, stop by Lillstreet to view and purchase the wares of Lillstreet alums.  These unique items make great holiday gifts and proceeds support independent artists!

Lillstreet Arts Center is located at 4401 N. Ravenswood and the 34th Annual Holiday show is open through December 31st. An Open House featuring free workshops for adults and kids’ activities is on December 5th from 12PM through 5PM.

We’re extremely excited to be working with Theater Wit again as they present their holiday sensation, The Santaland Diaries. We’re currently wrapping up our retail and campus distribution that covered much of our citywide coverage areas and have since exhausted our supply of promotional materials that were printed at our very own printworks.

In it’s sixth year of production The Santaland Diaries opens at the Theatre Building on November 27th and once again starring Mitchell Fain who played to rave reviews and soldout houses in 2008. A celebration of the desperation of unemployment, the insanity of Christmas shopping and the ineffable “cheer” of the holiday spirit and seen by over 18,000 theatergoers, this is a do-not-miss holiday event for Chicago.

Tickets for The Santaland Diaries are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here. The Theatre Building is located at 1225 W. Belmont.

It might be a long trip from the city to St. Charles but Noble Fool Theatricals has a long history of being the center point of theatre in the western suburbs. Their home, within the Pheasant Run Resort makes for a a great opportunity for dinner, after show cocktails, and hell, staying the night! Forever Plaid, Plaid Tidings , their holiday production, is back to sing songs of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and a “Plaid-erized” version of Christmas specials to fulfill their mission of creating a little harmony in a troubled world. direction tour marketing will be distributing posters and handbills to our suburban retail locations in St. Charles, Naperville, Bartlett, and West Chicago, to name a few.

Forever Plaid, Plaid Tidings is running through December 27th at Noble Fool Theatricals in St. Charles, IL. Tickets are on sale now and dinner packages are available. More info can be found by clicking here.

Rosemont Theatre has ben keeping us VERY busy this week as we visit children’s and family friendly locations throughout the North Shore suburbs, NW suburbs, and the city to support the upcoming Yo Gabba Gabba performance at Rosemont Theatre. The series premiered in 2007 and has since become a TV sensation. My son loves it and I have to say, I’ve begun to enjoy it as well. They have a great series of guests and their sets and concepts are allot of fun. I’m not sure what the Live show has in store but you can bet that my son will be there with Dad in tow.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live will be at the Rosemont Theatre for two shows on Saturday, December 5th. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

Poster/flyer distribution and printing is probably the first thought when you think about direction tour marketing. However, we offer allot more services in a number of fields that you may not even know about. Did you know we serve as in-market support arms for a number of brands and agencies? Over the years, marketing agencies have reached out to direction and our street level experience to leverage local vendors, production support, brand ambassadors, and shipping logistics. Our years of experience and market knowledge can put your mind at ease before arriving in-market for an event or promotional activation.

Some of the agencies we regularly support include Mirrorball, Action Marketing Group, BMF Media Group,  and their brand clients range from adidas to Zumiez. Chicago serves as our home base but our network of market managers allows for execution across the country, just like our Bustelo activations this past weekend in South Beach! Need local solutions for an upcoming event or promotion, give us a call!

We’re very excited to be working with Hopera World on their upcoming production at the DuSable Museum of African American History. We’re currently distributing posters and handbills on a number of campuses in the Chicago area to help build awareness and hype for the premier.

A Fallen Hero is a full length Hip Hop Opera production with original music by Adrian Dunn. This moving story set in Chicago follows the life of young Obadiah King and his quest to find himself. This dynamic cast of ten operatic and popular vocalists, dancers, and rappers present Obadiah’s ability to triumph over loss, rejection, and even death.

A Fallen Hero opens Thursday, November 12th and tickets are $25 and on sal now. For more information log onto www.hoperaworld.com

This past weekend, direction tour marketing teamed with our friends BMF Media Group to provide brand ambassadors who sampled Bustelo Cool and the new Bustelo Ice Cream to the throngs of attendees of Sleepless Night in Miami. Our Miami street teams worked crowds from 9PM through 2AM directing traffic to the Cafe Bustelo store and two mobile stations set-up for on site sampling.

The teams had a great time and the party went all night and we went through ALLOT of product samples. I can’t wait for Bustelo Ice Cream to hit Chicago but in the meantime I’ll have to settle for a Bustelo Cool!

You’re invited to a marvelous party!  Oh Coward! celebrates one of the theatre’s greatest entertainers—Noël Coward.  Best known for his comic masterpieces Blithe Spirit, Private Lives and Hay Fever, Coward was one of the most prolific songwriters of his day.  Now, acclaimed director Jim Corti brings his effervescent music, satirical quips and witty repartee to life.  With the intimate Books on Vernon venue transformed into a nightclub, Oh Coward! is a must-see evening of the most memorable tunes of the 20th century!

direction tour marketing will be supporting Oh Coward! with handbill and poster distribution throughout the North Shore suburbs and the Northernmost portion of the city. Oh Coward! will be performed at 664 Vernon Avenue and please note that ALL tickets are general admission.

Oh Coward! opens Tuesday, November 17th and more information can be found by logging onto www.writerstheatre.org

I spoke briefly last week about Millennium Park’s upcoming presentation of  Teatr Zar’s Caesarean Section and our development of a Polish Route to help them best reach the Polish National community within Chicago. We completed the route last week and are confident that our outreach has already raised awareness for the upcoming shows.

Millennium Park is rounding out its fall and winter theater season with Poland’s ground-breaking troupe, Teatr Zar, and their U.S. premiere of Caesarean Section. This international theater company, never before seen in Chicago, is widely recognized for fusing movement and music with haunting images. Audiences will have a chance to experience this compelling production from intimate seating on the stage behind the Jay Pritzker Pavilion’s glass doors.In Caesarean Section, Teatr Zar explores the question of freedom and its limitations, and draws on the music of Corsica, with Bulgarian, Romanian, Icelandic and Chechen songs interwoven.

Caesarian Section will be running from Thursday, November 12 through Friday, November 14th. Tickets are $35 and more information can be found by clicking here.

direction street teams have been hard at work the past few weeks promoting House Theatre of Chicago’s latest production, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds. We’ve already completed a number of hand-to-hand flyer distributions at shows around Chicago including the Bob Dylan run at the Aragon Ballroom. We’re also distributing handbills and posters to neighborhoods and several of our specialty routes including our theatre route, bar & pub route, and our “hipster” route. To top it all off, we printed all of the promotional materials in-house at direction printworks!

Written by rock journalist Mark Guarino and featuring the music and artwork of Bloodshot Records recording artist Jon Langford, this phantasmic journey into the mind of a fictional country music legend is what an episode of Howdy Doody might look like if it were directed by David Lynch. Sadly reflective and yet hilariously surreal, the show mixes rock biography, live music and stunning visual effects to tell a tripped out tale of the demise of America’s last living cowboy.

All the Fame of Lofty Deeds opens Thursday, November 12th at Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.